When you upload a file, you must indicate its license status. See Commons:Licensing for a quick tutorial about licenses.

Depending on what license you choose using the license selector, a so-called copyright tag is inserted into the resulting description page, such as {{cc-by-3.0}}. This will display license information on the description page, and categorize the file accordingly. You can also insert any of these tags manually into the upload summary. The tags can be viewed and edited at [[Template:Tag name]], e.g. Template:cc-by-3.0 for {{cc-by-3.0}}.

Public domain

Non-U.S. works

All works hosted at the Commons must be legal to publish in the United States. For non-U.S. "public domain" works, this means they must be in the public domain in both the non-U.S. source country and in the U.S., or there must be an explicit release of the work for the U.S. under a free license.

For non-U.S. works, please add one of the following tags in addition to an appropriate license tag:

{{Not-PD-US-URAA}} or {{Not-PD-US-URAA|country|URAA date}} for works published 1923 or later, but copyrighted in the source country on the URAA date, even if that non-U.S. copyright has expired since then. Note that this concerns most works published 1923 or later of authors who died after 1925 (for source countries with a copyright term of "life of author plus 70 years").

For works of such authors that were published before 1923, use {{PD-1923}}in addition to the appropriate copyright tag for the source country.

{{Not-free-US-FOP}} for media published under FoP-rules not yet proven to be acceptable in the US.

General

{{PD-old}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired. This applies to the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years. Note that this tag alone is not sufficient— all media files on Wikimedia Commons tagged with this license must also be tagged with a license that is explicitly valid in the United States.

{{PD-old-100}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 100 years or less.

{{PD-old-80}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 80 years or less.

{{PD-old-75}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 75 years or less.

{{PD-old-70}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 70 years or less.

{{PD-old-50}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in the USA and countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 50 years or less.

{{CC-zero}} – for works released under the CC0. Like {{PD-author}}/etc., plus an explicit fallback to an extremely permissive copyright license in cases where releasing into the actual public domain is impossible.

{{PD-self}} – for works released into the public domain by their creator who is also the uploader.

{{PD-user|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are Wikimedia Commons users.

{{PD-user-en|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are English Wikipedia users.

{{PD-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} – for works released into the public domain by their creators when the creators are other Wikipedia users.

The variable projectcode is the language name of the creator's local Wikipedia (e.g. "de" for the German Wikipedia, and "ja" for the Japanese);

{{PD-author|author}} – for works released into the public domain by non-Wikimedia users. Some further explanation should be given such as a link to the author's website where they explicitly state that they release the work into the public domain (e.g. {{PD-author|[http://www.sitename.com author]}} ).

{{PD-heirs}} – for works released into the public domain by the heirs of the creator.

{{Anonymous work}} – anonymous work more than 50 years old (Berne convention).

{{Anonymous-EU}} – anonymous work more than 70 years old (European Union).

{{PD-EU-no author disclosure}} – anonymous work published more than 70 years ago without a public claim of authorship and no subsequent claim of authorship in the 70 years following its first publication (European Union).

{{PD-scan}} – for scans of public domain originals which may have been enhanced, but only to the extent that no independent copyright protection can be expected to arise out of the enhancements. See also Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.

{{PD-retouched-user}} – for public domain works that have been significantly retouched or modified by a Commons user. This explicitly releases all rights to those modifications.

{{PD-AR-Gov}} – for works created and regulated by National or Provincial Governments of Argentina, such as official symbols or emblems.

{{PD-AR-Movie}} – for Argentinian cinematographic works 50 years after the death of the script writer, the producer and the director.

{{PD-AR-Music}} – for free music performances done by musical ensembles belonging to the national, provincial or municipal governments.

{{PD-AR-Photo}} – for Argentinian photographs first published more than 25 years ago. A proper source and date of publications has to be provided.

{{PD-AR-Signs}} – for road signs published in laws or other regulations.

For all other works 70 years after the death of the author, {{PD-old}} applies.

Armenia

{{PD-Armenia}} – for anonymous works or pseudonymous works 70 years after creation, other works 70 years after the death of the (last-surviving) author, "expressions of traditional folklore and art" or "political speeches, speeches delivered in the court," or "official documents, legal acts, treaties and the official translations thereof, state emblems and signs (flags, coats of arms, medals, monetary signs)."

{{PD-AM-exempt}} – for works of folklore; communications on daily news or on current events that are press information; official documents (laws, decisions, decrees, etc.) as well as their official translations; state emblems and signs (flags, coats of arm (armorial bearings), medals (decorations), monetary signs, etc.); results obtained by technical means without the intervention of human creative activity.

Australia

{{PD-Australia}} – for Australian photographs published 70 years after the death of the creator, or photographs taken prior to 1955.

Austria

{{PD-AustrianGov}} – for parts of laws, ordinances or official decrees issued by an Austrian federal or state authority and for works of those authorities intended predominantly for official use.

{{PD-Austria-1932}} – for photographic works published before 1932, or created before 1932 and not published for 20 years thereafter.

{{PD-StVZVO}} – for road signs published in ordinances or other regulations.

Azerbaijan

{{PD-AZ-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, court decisions, other texts of legislative, administrative or judicial character) and official translations thereof; State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs); works of folklore, which have no signs of Article 5 of this law; communications concerning events and facts that have informational character.

Bahrain

{{PD-Bahrain}} – for photographs and films 50 years starting from the end of the production year, for other works 50 years after the author's death.

Bangladesh

{{PD-Bangladesh}} - for photographs and films 60 years starting from the end of the production year, for other works 60 years after the author's (or last-surviving author) death.

Belarus

{{PD-BY-exempt}} – for formal documents (laws, judgements, other texts of legal, administrative and judicial nature), and also their official translations; state symbols and signs (flag, coat of arms, anthem, awards, banknotes and other signs); works of folk arts, authors of which are not known.

Belgium

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

{{PD-BH-exempt}} – for works exempt from copyright under Bosnia and Herzegovina law (“ideas, plans, …, official texts, …, professional reports, …” – see license template for details)

Bulgaria

{{PD-BG-exempt}} – for works exempt from copyright under Bulgaria law.

{{PD-BulgarianGov}} – for government works exempt from copyright under Bulgaria law.

Brazil

{{PD-BrazilGov}} – for works published or commissioned by a Brazilian government (federal, state, or municipal) prior to 1983, or the text of a treaty, convention, law, decree, regulation, judicial decision, or other official enactment.

{{PD-Brazil-media}} – for Brazilian photographs and audiovisual works first published more than 70 years ago.

Colombia

{{PD-Colombia}} – generally 80 years after the author's death or 80 years after publication of audiovisual works, collective works and anonymous works. In all cases where a work has as its owner a legal entity or an official body or any institution under government public law, the term of protection shall be deemed to be 70 years as from the date of publication.

Djibouti

{{PD-Djibouti}} – for works made in Djibouti whose copyright has expired (50 years after author's death, or 25 years after creation for photographic works, see details in the template). The Republic of Djibouti being the successor state of French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) and the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, this applies to works published in those territories as well.

Estonia

{{PD-EE-exempt}} – copyright does not apply to works of folklore, legislation and administrative documents, court decisions and official translations thereof; official symbols of the state and insignia of organizations. Freedom of panorama in Estonia is restricted to non-commercial uses only, or to overview photos.

Ethiopia

{{PD-Ethiopia}} – copyright term is generally 50 years after the author's death, or from the making of an audiovisual work or communication of said work to the public, which ever date is the latest. Copyright of a photographic work is 25 years from the making of the work. (art. 20.1, 20.7 and 20.8 of Proclamation No. 410/2004: Protection of copyright and neighboring rights)

European Union

The following tags apply to works published in any country which has copyright legislation harmonized to the European Union directives. See also for country specific tags under each country header.

{{PD-old-70}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired in countries and areas copyrighting works for life plus 70 years or less.

{{Anonymous-EU}} – anonymous work more than 70 years old (European Union).

{{PD-EU-no author disclosure}} – anonymous work published more than 70 years ago without a public claim of authorship and no subsequent claim of authorship in the 70 years following its first publication (European Union).

Faroe Islands

{{Faroe stamps}} – for stamps by the Faroe post office in the public domain.

{{PD-JORF}} – for French official legal texts as published in the Journal officiel de la République Française (or reprinted on Légifrance; note: not all texts on Légifrance are out-of-copyright, many others are copyrighted under free licenses, and sometimes under unfree licenses).

{{PD-JORF-nor-conso}} – with NOR (identification number) and index of the updated text.

Georgia

{{PD-GE-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, decisions of courts, other texts of administrative and normative character), as well as their official translations; official symbols of state (flag, emblem, anthem, award, monetary symbols, other official signs and symbols of state); information of events and facts.

Germany

{{PD-GermanGov}} – for public domain images from Germany statutes or other regulations.

{{PD-BW}} – for publicly available service regulations ("Zentrale Dienstvorschrift") of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr).

{{PD-Coa-Germany}} – for German coats of arms of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).

{{PD-Flag-Germany}} – for German flags of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).

{{PD-Seal-Germany}} – for German seals of corporations governed by public law that are in the public domain according to German law because they are official works (§ 5 Abs. 1 UrhG).

{{PD-VzKat}} – for road signs published as statutes or other regulations.

Hungary

India

{{PD-India}} – India public domain images and sounds, 60 years after the end of the year of first publication, provided that the subject matter of the photo or recording is also not protected by copyright.

{{PD-India-photo-1958}} – Photographs created before 1958 are in the public domain 50 years after creation.

{{PD-India-URAA}} – For work that is public domain in the United States because it was first published in India (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days) and it was first published before 1978 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities or after 1978 without copyright notice and it was in the public domain in its home country India on the URAA date January 1, 1996.

{{PD-India-Gov}} – for laws, judgements, and Reports on the Table of the Legislature.

Indonesia

{{PD-IDGov}} – Indonesian public domain because the artwork/file was published and/or distributed by the government of Republic of Indonesia and fulfills the conditions of Chapter II, Section 5, Article 14 of the Indonesian Copyright Act No. 19, 2002, see Commons:Licensing.

{{PD-IDOld-Art30}} – Indonesian public domain of old pictures, movies, software and other engineered products.

Iran

{{PD-Iran}} – copyright of photographs and movies lasts 30 years from the date of publication or presentation. for more information see COM:L#Iran

Iraq

{{PD-Iraq}} – photos 5 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Ireland

{{PD-IrishGov}} – Irish government works are generally released to the public domain 50 years after creation.

Israel

{{PD-Israel}} – according to Israel's copyright law, works are released to the public domain 70 years after their author's death, starting from January 1st which occurs after the date of death. Photographs taken before May 2008 are released to the public domain 50 years after their creation, starting from January 1st which occurs after the day in which the photograph was taken. Photographs taken by a public authority (i.e. the government and its affiliated bodies) are released to public domain 50 years after their publication, starting from January 1st which occurs after the date of the first publication. According to the new Israeli copyright law, effective since May 2008, photographs are no longer an exception, and are released to the public domain 70 years after their photographer's death, unless taken by a public authority in which case the previous arrangement remains.

{{PD-IsraelGov}} – specific for the expiration of the State of Israel's copyrights (also included in the last section of {{PD-Israel}})

Jordan

Kazakhstan

{{PD-KZ-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, court decisions and other texts of a legislative, administrative, judicial or diplomatic nature) together with official translations thereof, state emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs), works of folklore, communications concerning events and facts that have an informational character.

Kenya

{{PD-Kenya}} – for works whose author died more than 50 years ago (for photographs 50 years after first publication).

Korea

{{PD-South Korea}} – for works whose author died more than 70 years ago or published in the name of an organization more than 70 years ago.

Kosovo

{{PD-KosovoGov}} – for public domain Kosovar official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Kuwait

{{PD-Kuwait}} – photographs, films and two dimensional artistic works 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year.

Kyrgyzstan

{{PD-KG-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, resolutions, decisions, etc.) as well as official translations thereof; State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, orders, monetary signs and etc.); Works of folklore; Information on the news of the day or information on the current events that are of the common press-information character; The results obtained with the help of technical means for the production of a certain type without creative activity of a man directly targeted for creation of an individual work (as amended by Law #120 from November 6, 1999).

Latvia

{{PD-LV-exempt}} – for official Latvian State symbols and insignia (flags, coats-of-arms, anthems, and other State symbols and insignia).

Lebanon

{{PD-Lebanon}} – photos and two dimensional artistic works 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year after which attribution is still required forever.

Libya

{{PD-Libya}} – photos 5 years starting from the date of first publication of the work.

Moldova

{{PD-MD-exempt}} – for official documents (laws, court decisions, etc.) or to the official translations thereof, state emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs, etc.), folklore expressions, daily news and facts of simple informational nature, the mode of expression rather than ideas, processes, functioning methods or mathematical concepts as such shall be protected by copyright.

Mongolia

{{PD-Mongolia}} – applies to works first published in Mongolia: Photos and applied art 25 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year. Other works 50 years after the author's death. Anonymous and pseudonymous works and works created by legal persons 75 years after publication. Any photographic images or other applied art created before 1972 (PD in Mongolia before 1997) are in the public domain in both Mongolia and the USA.

Nepal

a) anonymous work or pseudonymous work – after 50 years from the date of its publication;

b) work created on payment of remuneration at the initiation or direction of any person or organization – 50 years from the date of its publication;

c) photographic work or work of applied art – 25 years from the year of its creation;

d) other work – 50 years from the year of death of the author (or last-surviving author)

Netherlands, The

{{PD-NL-gemeentewapen}} – for coats of arms of (no longer existing) municipalities, provinces and the country itself

{{PD-NL-gemeentevlag}} – for flags of (no longer existing) municipalities, provinces and the country itself

{{PD-NL-Gov}} (deprecated) – for all works communicated to the public by or on behalf of the public authorities (government), unless the copyright has been reserved explicitly, either in a general manner by law, decree or ordinance, or in a specific case by a notice on the work itself or at the communication to the public

{{Kirkeinfo}} – photos from the media database [7] of the Church of Norway

{{PD-NorwayGov}} – part of a decision or a statement by an authority or a public body of Norway

{{Met.no}} – images without a byline from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Ottoman Empire

{{PD-Ottoman}} – for works published in the Ottoman Empire, all of which are currently in the public domain.

Pakistan

{{PD-Pakistan}} – for public domain works first published in Pakistan. According to Pakistani copyright laws, all photographs enter the public domain fifty years after they were created, and all non-photographic works enter the public domain fifty years after the death of the creator.

Philippines

{{PD-Philippines}} – for public domain Philippine images whose copyrights expired or released into the public domain.

{{PD-PhilippinesGov}} – for works of the government of the Philippines exempted from copyright as stated by Republic Act No. 8293.

Poland

{{PD-Polish}} – for public domain Polish photographs published in Poland without a copyright notice prior to May 23, 1994.

{{PD-Polishsymbol}} – for public domain Polish government documents, materials, signs and symbols.

Romania

{{PD-RO-exempt}} – for: (a) the ideas, theories, concepts, scientific discoveries, procedures, working methods, or mathematical concepts as such and inventions, contained in a work, whatever the manner of the adoption, writing, explanation or expression thereof; (b) official texts of a political, legislative, administrative or judicial nature, and official translations thereof; (c) official symbols of the State, public authorities and organizations, such as armorial bearings, seals, flags, emblems, shields, badges and medals; (d) means of payment; (e) news and press information; (f) simple facts and data; (g) the photographs of letters, deeds, documents of any kind, technical drawings and other similar papers.

{{PD-RO-photo}} – for: (a) photographs series taken before 1986; (b) photographs taken before 1991.

In general, {{PD-old-70}}/{{PD-old-100}} applies. For some intricate special cases in which works of authors who died less than 70 years ago are PD, or works of authors who died over 70 years ago are not PD, see {{PD-Russia}}. Roughly, these special cases apply only to authors who died before the end of 1942.

{{PD-RU-exempt}} for State emblems and official signs (flags, armorial bearings, decorations, monetary signs and other State symbols and official signs) of Russian Federation

{{PD-Brockhaus&Efron}} – for images from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890–1907)

For works first published not only in the RSFSR but in one of the other SSRs too, or simultaneously in various republics of Soviet Union, see the corresponding successor state of the Soviet Union. For instance, for a Soviet work first published in the Ukrainian SSR, see the entry #Ukraine. ({{PD-Ukraine}}, in this case.)

San Marino

{{PD-SanMarino}} for the reproduction, even in their entirety, of the acts of State or government or judicial acts.

Saudi Arabia

{{PD-Saudi Arabia}} – photos, films, sound and artistic works 25 years after publication, starting from the publication date.

Serbia-Montenegro (S.R.J.)

{{PD-SCGGov}} – for public domain Serbian-Montenegro official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

Serbia

{{PD-SerbiaGov}} – for public domain Serbian official works, state symbols, stamps, money etc.

{{PD-Serbia}} – for works whose author died before 1954 or published before 1954 if anonymous (public domain prior to introduction of the new law in 2004).

Seychelles

c) literary, musical or artistic works other than photographs 25 years after the author's death.

Singapore

{{FoP-Singapore}} – for photographs, etc., of sculptures and works of artistic craftsmanship permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public, and of buildings and models of buildings.

{{PD-SG-artisticwork}} – for published and unpublished artistic works other than photographs.

{{PD-SG-broadcast}} – for television and sound broadcasts, and cable programmes included in cable programme services.

Switzerland

{{PD-Coa-Switzerland}} – for coat of arms of a Swiss Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (corporation governed by public law).

{{PD-Switzerland-photo}} – for photographs first published in Switzerland that do not have the individual character that is required by law for copyright protection. See template for details, but use this only in obvious cases, as reasonable people can disagree about the individuality of a picture.

See also the Public Domain FAQ by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (English, French, German, Italian).

Syria

{{PD-Syria}} – by Syrian law, photographic work is protected for 10 years starting from the production date[8]. As Syria Joined Berne Convention on November 2004, [9], Photographic works produced starting from 1994 should be protected for 25 years starting from the production date (minimum protection period set by Berne Convention). Photographic work produced before 1994 is public domain.

{{PD-ROC-Traffic Markings}} – for Taiwanese traffic markings from the website of the Institute of Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the same source as above

Tajikistan

{{PD-TJ-exempt}} – for formal documents (laws, judgements, other texts of legal, administrative and judicial nature), and also their official translations; state symbols and signs (flags, coats of arms, awards, banknotes and so on); communications concerning events and facts that have informational character; works of folk arts

Thailand

{{PD-Thailand}} – for works from Thailand, which have different copyright terms depending on type, usually 50 years after the creator's death or 50 years after publication.

{{PD-TH-exempt}} – for works ineligible for copyright in Thailand, including laws and official government documents.

Uganda

b) computer programs, audio-visual works or sound recordings 50 years after publication

c) literary, musical or artistic works published before January 1st, 1954, whose author died before Jan 1st, 2004;

d) other works 50 years after the author's death.

Ukraine

{{PD-Ukraine}} is in effect towards works first published before January 1, 1951, and the creator (if known) died before that date). This is the effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law of 1993 and the copyright from 50 to 70 years in 2001.). The final conclusion is #.4 in Chapter VI Ukrainian Copyright Law:

#.4. It shall be established that as from the day on which this Law enters into force, the terms of copyright protection, stipulated in Article 28 of this Law and parts 1 and 2 of Article 44 of this Law, shall apply in all cases where the 50-year period of copyright validity after the author's death or the period of validity of related rights has not expired prior to the date of entry into force of this Law.

An Ukrainian or Soviet work that is in the public domain in Ukraine according to this rule is in the public domain in the U.S. only if it was in the public domain in Ukraine in 1995, e.g. if it was published before 1945and the creator died before that year, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. (This is the combined effect of the retroactive Ukrainian copyright law, Ukraine's joining the Berne Convention in 1995, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.)

{{PD-UA-exempt}} for daily news or details of current events that constitute regular press information; works of folk art (folklore); official documents of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, court awards, State standards, etc.) issued by government authorities within their powers, and official translations thereof; State symbols of Ukraine, government awards; symbols and signs of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations; symbols of territorial communities; symbols and signs of enterprises, institutions and organizations; bank notes; transport schedules, TV and radio broadcast schedules, telephone directories and other similar databases that do not meet the originality criteria and to which the sui generis right (a particular or special right) is applicable.

{{PD-UAGovDoc}} for official documents of a political, legislative or administrative nature (laws, decrees, resolutions, court awards, State standards, etc.) issued by government authorities within their powers, and official translations thereof.

The Open Government Licence (OGL) (view in English or Welsh) is a simple set of terms and conditions that facilitates the re-use of a wide range of public sector information free of charge. Since 2010, almost all information owned by the UK Crown is offered for use and re-use under the Open Government Licence.

{{PD-USGov-NASA-AP|mission=mission|roll=roll|frame=frame}} – data from http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/. Parameters are photography code. Note: unlike the following tag, this is not a copyright tag, but simply a source information tag.

Work of Organized Territories has less clear status; the first link in this section shows strong evidence that Puerto Rico's works are in the public domain, while the second link prevaricates.

Uruguay

{{PD-Uruguay}} – for works in the public domain because their copyright has expired (50 years after the author's death).

{{PD-Uruguay-anon}} – for anonymous works published more than 50 years ago.

Uzbekistan

{{PD-UZ-exempt}} – for official documents (law, resolutions, decisions, etc.) as well as their official translations; official symbols and signs (flags, arms, orders, banknotes, etc.); national creative works; reports about the news of the day or current events having the nature of usual press conference; results received with help of equipment designed for some kind of production without the person's implementation of creative activity directly associated with the creation of individual work.

{{PD-Uzbekistan}} – for works in the public domain according to Uzbekistanian law (50 years after the author's death).

Venezuela

{{PD-Venezuela}} – generally 60 years after the author's death with the exception of audiovisual works, broadcast works and computer programs, in which case the protection lasts for 60 years after publication.

{{PD-VenezuelaGov}} – for the "texts of laws, decrees, official regulations, public treaties, judicial decisions and other official acts."

Vietnam

{{PD-Vietnam}} – all photographs enter the public domain fifty years after they were first published, and all non-photographic works enter the public domain fifty years after the death of the creator.

Yemen

{{PD-Yemen}} – Generally 30 years after the author's death, with the exception of TV films, photographs, and TV programs, respectively 25 years, 10 years and 3 years after the date of broadcasting or publication. (art. 24, 25, 26 and 27 of Law No. 19 (1998) on intellectual property). Yemen being the successor state of Aden Settlement, Aden Province, Aden Colony, Aden Protectorate, the Federation of South Arabia and the People's Republic of Yemen, this applies to works published in those territories as well.

Yugoslavia

{{PD-Yugoslavia}} – Generally 50 years after the author's death, with the exception of photographs or a works of applied art, respectively 25 years since published. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, there are different regulations for the successor states:

GNU Licenses

{{GFDL-1.2}} – for works released under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 specifically.

{{GFDL-self}} – for works released per the GNU Free Documentation License by their creators.

{{GFDL-en}} – for works from the English Wikipedia, and originally licensed as GFDL there. The GFDL on EN is slightly different, in that it is "subject to disclaimers".

{{GFDL-user}} – for works by other Commons users that are under the GNU Free Documentation License.

{{GFDL-user|lang}} – for works from other Wikimedia projects. lang is an optional parameter.

{{GFDL-user-w|projectcode|projectname|username}} – for works released under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License by their creators when the creators are other Wikipedia users. Note: The variable projectcode is the language name of the creator's local Wikipedia (e.g. "de" for the German Wikipedia, and "ja" for the Japanese); It may also contain the project name for non-Wikipedia projects (i.e. "de:wiktionary" for the German Wiktionary). The variable projectname is the human readable project name (e.g. "French Wikipedia", "German Wiktionary", etc.). The variable username is the creator's log-in name at that project.

{{GPL}} – GNU General Public License; See Category:GPL for all GPL templates (there are specific versions). Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The GPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.

{{LGPL}} – GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later. Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The LGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.

{{LGPLv3}} – GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or later. Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The LGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.

{{AGPL}} – The Affero General Public License. Note: do not use this as the only license for your work if you can avoid it. The AGPL is intended for computer programs, not for media files.

Please note: The GFDL is rather impractical for images and short texts because it requires the full text of the GFDL to be published along with the image. This is prohibitive for print media: in order to use a single image in a newspaper, a full page containing the GFDL would have to be printed. To resolve this, please dual-license your work under GFDL and an equivalent Creative Commons license like CC-by-sa-3.0 (see below). This helps to make your work usable not only freely, but also easily.

Free Creative Commons licenses

Attribution (by) and Attribution-ShareAlike (by-sa) licenses without NonCommercial (nc) or NoDerivs (nd) restrictions are accepted, as are CC0 and CC-PD. Also see the full table of allowed Creative Commons licenses. Note that country specific licenses are based on that specific country copyright law.

Source-specific Creative Commons licenses

{{Agência Brasil}} – photographs from Agência Brasil. First, on request by User:555 they said "O uso do material é exclusivamente para fins de cobertura jornalística. Não há qualquer autorização para derivações e uso comercial." (Use of the material is permitted exclusively for journalistic coverage. Derivations and commercial use are not authorized.) but now they offer the pictures as cc-by-2.5-br.

Copyleft Attitude License

{{FAL}} – Free Art License, a free license published by Copyleft Attitude, can be applied to digital as well as to non-digital art. With this Free Art License, you are authorised to copy, distribute and freely transform the work of art while respecting the rights of the originator. The FAL is recommended by the Free Software Foundation: "We don't take the position that artistic or entertainment works must be free, but if you want to make one free, we recommend the Free Art License."

{{Copyrighted free use provided that|insert conditions here}} – Copyrighted, but the copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose under certain conditions. Note: before licensing your own work with this license, read and understand Commons:Licensing. Consider using the GFDL or one of the free Creative Commons licenses instead.

{{Free screenshot|license=free license}} – for screenshots containing pictures of not copyrighted programs, or programs released under a free license, or by some other way following the requirements of Commons. The actual free license should be indicated as a parameter to the tag. (See {{screenshot}}below for screenshots of copyrighted software or operating systems). If the screenshot shows original work by someone else, make sure it's under a free license and indicate that license using a separate license tag from above. If it shows your own work, say so explicitly and select a license tag of your liking from above.

{{Bmz}} – images from http://www.bmz.amsterdam.nl/adam/index_e.html are copyrighted but may be used if the source is acknowledged as the Amsterdam Municipal Department for the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings and Sites (bMA)]. This applies only to images for which bMA does not mention some other source.

Unfree licenses

The following copyright options are not acceptable at Commons. Images with these tags will be deleted. Before deleting such images, check to see if they are multi-licensed. Some of these can be used as an option, together with a free licence.

{{Copyvio}} – Copyright violation. This image will need to be deleted.

{{Nonderivative}} – Copyright status that does not allow changes to the image or file. This image will have to be deleted.

Note this includes any Creative Commons "nd" license.

{{NZCrownCopyright}} – Some New Zealand Government departments allow their material to be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided, but it must be reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context, making this a nonderivative license.

{{PD-IndiaGov}} – deprecated template, which was previously based on the incorrect assumption that India's Right to Information Act affected the copyright status of government created works

{{ADRM2}} – "Against DRM 2.0". It contains two important clauses: a clause about related rights and a clause against DRM (Digital Restrictions Management).

Unknown nature

The exact nature for the following licenses is unknown. They might be free licenses but they might also be something between merely an informative notice that fair use is permitted by law and a non-derivative license. Before uploading an image under one of these licences, please consider first finding out whether the licence is free by researching the terms and applicable laws or asking the copyright holder (example request texts are available), or both, and please share your results with others.

{{PD-EEA}} – EEA Website for media copyrighted by the Organization of American States perhaps may not be modified; use in journalistic/scientific contexts only.

Tags for incomplete or missing license info

{{no license|month=August|day=2|year=2015}} or simply {{subst:nld}} – Unknown copyright status. Copyright status is needed to keep this image. Use even if the image has no license info, but has been claimed by the uploader as own original work. The uploader probably meant to place it under some free license, but did not specify which one.

{{no source since|month=August|day=2|year=2015}} or simply {{subst:nsd}} – No source information or the image has been tagged as being under a free license, but information required by the license (or to verify the status) is missing. The source must be given so that the copyright status can be verified.

Other tags

These tags may be used in addition to the copyright tags above.

{{Coat of Arms}} – for coats of arms, i.e. the representation of a blazon as it is known in heraldry. Note: though the composition of coats of arms is usually PD (and may be represented anew without "derivative work" consideration), a given artistic representation is a work of art on its own right, subject to copyright. Be sure to check.

{{Communist symbol}} – for images showing or resembling symbols of Communism, especially the hammer and sickle. The use of such images is restricted in Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. The copyright status must be indicated separately. Similar to {{Nazi symbol}}.

{{FOP}} – for photos taken under the legal exception of the freedom of panorama (Panoramafreiheit)

{{IHL Symbol}} – for images containing symbols protected by international humanitarian law, such as a red cross. The use of these symbols may be restricted by international and national legislation, so make sure you are using them accordingly.

{{Insignia}} – for flags, coat of arms, seals or other official insignia.

{{Kopimi}} – When the copyright owner wants people to copy, modify, and distribute the file/image.

{{Modifications-ineligible}} – for works with minor modifications. Indicates explicitly that the modifications are ineligible for copyright.

{{Nazi symbol}} – for images showing or resembling a symbol of the Nazi party or a similar organisation, especially the swastika. The use of such images is restricted in Germany and other countries. The copyright status must be indicated separately.